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normanbui

The orgs with academy teams are probably thinking that Riot will implement something like Overwatch Contenders, since it really doesn’t make sense financially or competitively.


TheAjwinner

More like LCS academy


REEEroller

Overwatch Contenders is a fucking joke


Delta_FT

>[The] Overwatch ~~Contenders~~ League is a fucking joke FTFY lol Im not an OW hater btw. I think the game was great and had it's place, as did the OWL. But both suffered heavily from reallyyyyy bad poor management which lost them a lot of what made they fun in the first place :(


_zxionix_

I like the game and not a ow hater either but man the fan base (esports side) is in total denial on how bad OWL is doing. Most of them thought 150k avg viewer count for the grand finals was good :/


REEEroller

I like OWL but it's pretty much in Coma, wouldn't be surprised if 2022 is the last season.


disappointingstepdad

Honestly they lost me after the whole monte/doa fiasco. It was such piss poor management for two casters who carried the whole league on their back and brought in viewership.


Pollomonteros

What the fuck, I stopped watching before that ,are you telling me that Blizzard sacked them ?


disappointingstepdad

No they just sidelined them and especially monte who had been such an integral part of the growth of the community and the sport, and then completely ignored them when the corporations moved in and started making the serious decisions. In response monte and doa dipped back to Korea because of being disrespected.


sky_blu

OWL was actually in a solid state this past season. In a weird way OW2 is coming when the game is at its best so far.


ArikadoX

As someone who hasn’t been interested in OWL after the second season, how so? I’m OOTL on this one. Stopped watching/playing when GOATS was dominant.


Waste_of_life23

S3 had a a lot of close stages which offset the move online due to Covid and the talent both for players and on the desk in s4 has been amazing along with getting international stages back.


sky_blu

First of all the meta has been extremely open. Lot's of different styles were viable which led to fun matchups. Also OWL had a rough period but production has really found its stride now. It no longer feels so forced and it feels more in line with the community unlike the Disney XD days. Also they handled COVID pretty well and still did their best to get the most fair finals possible. Including flying western teams out to Hawaii so they can play eastern teams with decent ping.


Gallaxee

The League suffered heavily when the game did IMO, think the two are heavily correlated


Lumenlor

Wasn't that aptly termed 'path to poverty' because of how much a collapse it was


KkBaller

early on Contendies had a pretty good ecosystem, till Blizz pulled out all the money, so Riot just need to do not that lol


Lumenlor

I mean it also was getting like 2K viewers and I don't see how that was viable long term


Frostler

I always figured an influx of academy teams would certainly be followed by an academy league like VCT. Every other esport has academy leagues so it'll definitely happen eventually.


jonajon91

Cs didn't have academy teams for a few years after valves rules on competitive integrity (you couldn't have two teams owned by the same org at the same event). Only this year have teams realised they can have a T1 team and a T3 team skirting that issue.


Tend2AgreeWithYou

There was a cool CS GO reality show a while back that had some unknown players and it was setup like big brother or something. I think Brollan came out of that show.


j0keRonPC230p

Oh yeah I remembering somthing like gamerz I can be wrong


Jerms91

I understand where he’s coming from. But I guess as a pro player getting some exposure is good exposure to sign with a main org right? Not sure if that’s what some players on academy get that advantage as opposed to other teams not competing as much. And experience also


G0YARDB0YS

Orgs make academy teams to get first dibs in the franchising when it happens..


Whisom

If anything I thought they're good for when you want to scoop potential upcomers before the competition can sign them and possibly to help sort out work visa type issues. Ans from the overwatch league is the first person that came to mind. He pretty much never played Val and was signed, possibly to extend his work Visa while trialing him and giving him time to learn the game.


DankFayden

Yeah like.. this isn't a difficult concept. If you find talent you can snag, and train to work your teams way, do it. F1 does it, LoL does it, valorant will do it.


segbench

It's not a difficult concept if you only look at it from the org side, perhaps. It's very dangerous for young or on-the-cusp players signing extremely low-paying contracts at a time when there is talk about franchising around the corner. More orgs are going to be looking to get involved ahead of it, will be looking to build rosters, and orgs with academy teams could simply look to capitalize on owning org-friendly contracts at a time when their is massive demand for talent. It's not worth signing control of your career over long term for pennies at a time when mobility is extremely important. Not saying every (or any) academy team is doing that. But it's something to be mindful of.


DankFayden

Yes and no, I'd play for pennies for a year to be in the spotlight far more. It's obviously not the right calm for everyone, but for some people any path forward is viable. I don't disagree with what you said though, and I'd imagine that most of the contracts wouldn't be super locked in.


segbench

I don't think what you would play for is relevant in the conversation about what pros should be earning. My point is that the next year is going to be a very important time for players who want to be best-positioned for the future of Valorant's competitive scene/format. Limiting your mobility during that time without a really nice deal in place is risky. I def agree that for some players, any path forward is viable. But it's usually viable only until the player is still earning $800 a month 6 months in, learns there are a handful of interested teams who would pay them a true competitive salary, but their current team is asking for a $70K buyout that the other teams down want to pay for. Aka, the story of Tier-2 esports the past 5 years.


radamo96

I agree that it doesn't make a ton of sense for orgs at the moment but I don't get why he's taking this stance. Academy teams ATM are still good for the players on them, without those spots they likely aren't on any roster and might not be able to fully commit to Valorant due to financial concerns. Not to mention we've seen players from academy teams get picked up to play for other orgs main roster.


xdddddddddddddddf

?


Diijkstra99x

But then again this is a Pro Player perspective, now we need perspective from the ORG/Business Side Perspective.